Mumford & Sons and COIN at Music Midtown

BY: MACKENZI BROWN

This past weekend, I along with 78,000 others packed into Piedmont Park for two days of nothing but live music and good memories at the annual Music Midtown. Surprisingly this was my first time at this festival and although some were not pleased with the lineup, I was more than ecstatic to finally see some bands I have been dying to see such as Blink-182, Judah and the Lion, Two Door Cinema Club, and Bastille. But, the two that stood above the rest for me were COIN and Mumford and Sons.

COIN

In order to be up close and personal with Chase Lawrence (lead singer), I snagged my spot in the crowd while fans of Circa Waves, the band that performed before COIN, dispersed. That being said, I stood waiting in the direct line of fire (a.k.a the sun) for over an hour while they set the stage up. It is called dedication, people. I did get so hot though I was about to call it quits and watch from afar, but I am so glad I beat the heat because the star-struck face Chase made when he came out and saw just how many people gathered to see him was the most adorable and pure thing I have seen. I love when famous artists still look so shocked when they hear fans screaming their name. They opened with “Feeling” and it was only natural that I lost all feeling in my body upon hearing his incredulous voice. The entire performance was so energetic from start to finish that I was only able to take a few pictures and one mildly decent video (inserted below for your enjoyment) because there was no way I could stand still enough for that. Overall, it was a 10/10 experience that I will repeat when they come to the Buckhead Theater in February.

COIN, “Atlas”

Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons has been on my bucket list of people to see in concert since my 15 year old self discovered their album “Sigh No More,” so it was their headliner announcement that led me to attend Music Midtown in the first place. At 8:30 sharp the lights went dim and a recording of T.S. Elliot reading his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock began to play. Some people in the crowd were not pleased by this intro, but I thought that it was beautiful and really set the stage for their folk-rock sound. The band finally came out playing “Snake Eyes” and the crowd went wild. Their performance ranged from upbeat to slow paced to acoustic and included LOTS of confetti and pyro smoke. They even brought out HAIM to perform with them during “Awake My Soul.” Every song that they sang was filled with energy and soul, it was all so raw and evoked many emotions from the crowd as a whole. They concluded with my all time favorite song “The Wolf” (which I also included below) and I am surprised I did not have a seizure or that my heart did not explode. It was the PERFECT way to end this amazing weekend. Now, that I finally got too see Mumford & Sons perform live, I need not <sigh no more>.